1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electric irons and in particular to a combination pump and spray or surge function selector valve therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of electric irons of the type that are commonly used in the modern household, many of the irons include means to emit a spray of water droplets onto the object to be ironed which is positioned in the path of movement of the iron. This spray function is used when ironing certain fabrics and the spray function is controlled by the user of the iron.
The typical modern steam iron also generally includes a "surge" function. The surge function increases the speed and effectiveness of the steam iron in removing wrinkles from certain fabrics by enabling the user of the iron to selectively generate relatively large quantities of steam at intermittent times in the ironing process.
Typically, the spray and surge functions utilize separate pumps and controls, or a single pump with a separate control to select the desired function, thereby, increasing the cost and complexity of the iron's manufacture. Further, reliability of the iron may be decreased due to the number of separate components used to develop the surge and spray functions.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to manufacture an electric iron having surge and spray functions which utilizes a single control to operate the pump and to select the spray or surge function.